..to be disappointed that there's a grammatical error on the box of an M&S educational toy?

[earthpixie]

"Build the British Isles and all it's famous places"

sigh

that was to phipps

Well, I just have to say - "This is not just crap grammar, it's M&S crap grammar" - I hope no one beat me to it

seen in tesco last summer - kids t-shirt with "zebra's have stripes" as the logo

again last year the headline behind the BBc news reader said "Damming report" (should have been damning)

also seen years ago on DDs PJs from asda "little bear your'e a star" - yes that IS where the apostrophe was!! They were not at all bothered when I wrote and told them.

but the all time classic was the year we had to reprint the front covers of the "Homework Dairies" for the entire school - on the first day of term before they could be given out - I kid you not

I think this whole issue would go away if everyone in the UK were given a copy of the Ladybird book of grammar. It is BRILLIANT. It is beautifully and simply written. It covers all the basics. If we can't afford a copy for everyone then at least we should distribute it to children, teachers, signwriters and M&S.

And I hadn't thought of the option of the British Isles being a single archipeliwotsit. I just knew it wasn't a single state.

Thank you JLC. I went to a lot of schools but somehow missed the apostrophe lesson.

Perpetually - perhaps someone thinks zebra is short for something (eg zebrasurus)

hatwoman - is it available in Smiths please?

I've mentioned it before but one of the best I ever saw was an ad on the BBC for "Your Fired". Needless to say I was screeching and pointing while dh was shrugging and had to stop and think about whether I was right.

phipps you're welcome. I just think I was educated at a time when this was drilled into us. There's plenty I'm ignorant about. Was never taught anything about astronomy, for instance. Have learned more about some things in the 10 years I've had DCs than I did at school

OOh a chance to flex my grammar skills! Yes I am a grammar nerd with nothing better to do (home sick from work today but actually feeling a lot better now).

As you said already Phipps, apostrophes are used to indicate missing letters
So do not becomes don't
Is not becomes isn't
There is becomes there's

It is also used to indicate possession. When the person being talked about is singular,the apostrophe is placed before the s
Jane's dog
Peter's hat
When there is more than one person involved the apostrophe comes after the s
Australians' dislike
Bakers' attitudes

However where it gets confusing is with possessive pronouns
So you say "that dog is hers" not "that dog is her's"
Also, along the same vein, its does not carry an apostrophe when used to indicate possession
"The dog wagged its tail"

I can't think of other examples but I'm sure there are. Any other grammar geeks out there?

I help in school and learnt (or should it be learned?) about the gunpowder plot in a year one lesson

How does it work when you want to say Thomass room? My MIL puts the ' in one place and I would put it somewhere else.

yy its is tricky - I have to think about that too Writer

(BTW, whilst you were crafting your answer, I got in their first)

I can't stand the pedantic error Police on here, find it very small minded, thoughtless etc etc,

BUT !! - things like this I HATE with a passion, & it brings out the pedant in me, it ridiculous that a company so high profile, can put out a product, with all the levels of checks & meetings that entails & NOT get something as simple as the wording correct - COMPLAIN!!! & when doing so, tell them you bring your children up to write correctly, their Teachers work hard to do the same, so you are thoroughly disappointed that a company like M&S can be so slack

I spotted a poster in "Going Places" window recently, announcing we have the cheapest Egyption currency - made a mental note never to go in there :)

You can say Thomas' OR Thomas's (I think????)

Thomas' is more elegant

rockin - I agree - it's rude to correct people when they are on here about something unrelated. Poor grammar/spelling is not stupidity

Yes I noticed Jamie You made me cry a little you BIG MEANIE

If a name ends in s (as mine does) you put the apostrophe after the s, so as you say Jamie it would be Thomas' room.

.. is Thomas's not at all correct then, Writer ?

< offers olive branch >

too true JamieLee I'm probably the typo Queen, amongst other things, my fingers have a mind of their own at times - but I'm not thick - honest , besides I'm not writing a novel or a news article etc so as long as I'm understood, I don't really care

I wrote to them a couple of years ago after buying a pack of thank you cards (2 each of 4 designs or similar) and realised one said "Thank's"! Received a letter and £15 voucher, new bra for me, thanking you muchly...

This sort of thing drives me mad. I am a teacher and I do use of apostrophe and their, they're, there starters. Drives me mad correcting the same mistakes constantly - how hard is it. I don't understand why we stopped teaching grammer, why is learning English rules less important than learning rules in Mathes?

Maths

Mudandmayhem - yes, I said in my post you could give them the benefit of the doubt.

I still think they meant Girls' though.

What? I'm hungry and too lazy to get out of bed.

Thomas's isn't technically wrong, but I would heartily discourage anyone from using it because when you do people love adding a million 's' sounds. So poor old Thomas has to hear "That is Thomaseseseseses" four hundred million times throughout his life, from people who think they're the only clever dick to have come up with it. Can you tell this peeves me slightly? I hide it well don't I?